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Most permit reviews happen at the city or county level, but the state still shapes the rules around building codes, floodplain programs, professional licensing, and when a simple site plan is no longer enough. These guides help you understand that bigger picture before you spend time drawing.
What these state guides help you avoid
A small permit can still get slowed down by a weak site plan: missing property context, unclear setbacks, no scale, no north arrow, no title block, missing floodplain note, confusing utility callout, or a proposed structure drawn too close to the lot line. The building department may not care how simple the project feels. They care whether the plan gives them enough information to review it.
These state pages are written for homeowners, GCs, small builders, and owner-builders who need to understand what usually matters before they create a site plan. The goal is plain language, not legal language. You should be able to see when a quick permit-style plan may be enough, and when the project needs a licensed surveyor, engineer, architect, or a direct conversation with the local permit office.
Start with the state, then check the property address
Homeowners usually search by city. Contractors often think by job address. Permit data is usually split across the state, county, assessor, GIS office, city planning desk, and building department. SitePlans.ai connects those layers in a practical order: first understand the state context, then check the county and city guidance, then open the creator from the property address.
Where county parcel coverage is already connected, the creator can start with cleaner property lines instead of asking you to trace the lot by eye. Where coverage is not connected yet, the page should make that clear so you are not left wondering whether the tool is broken or the data is simply not available yet.
What a small-permit site plan usually needs
For routine residential projects, reviewers commonly look for the property boundary, existing building footprint, proposed work, dimensions, setbacks, right-of-way or easement context, north arrow, scale, vicinity map, title block, and clear notes. Some projects also need contours, drainage notes, floodplain information, utility locations, driveway access, or impervious area calculations.
That is why SitePlans.ai is built around property context first. A clean site plan is not only a drawing. It is a reviewer-readable sheet that shows where the work sits on the land and why it appears to comply with the basic location requirements.
When a simple site plan is not enough
A web-created site plan should not be treated as a licensed boundary survey or stamped engineering document. If the project involves a boundary dispute, major grading, drainage design, retaining walls, floodplain construction, septic design, commercial engineering, or a jurisdiction that specifically requires a PLS, PE, architect, or sealed plan, follow that requirement. SitePlans.ai is for preliminary and permit-style residential site plans where the local office allows that type of document.